JPS63128315A - Liquid crystal display element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the contrast and the electrooptic characteristic by providing spacers, which control the thickness of liquid crystal layers, in spacer part corresponding positions provided in parts other than picture element corresponding parts between a pair of substrates. CONSTITUTION:Liquid crystal layers 11, electrodes 10a and 10b, and oriented films are laminated and a pair of substrates 9a and 9b, which hold liquid crystal layers 1 at intervals of a prescribed gap between themselves and at least one of which is transparent, to constitute a liquid crystal display element. Spacers 12 which control the thickness of liquid crystal layers 11 are provided in spacer part corresponding positions provided in parts other than picture element corresponding to parts between a pair of substrates 9a and 9b. Therefore, spacers 12 do not exist in picture element corresponding parts to prevent orientation defects of liquid crystal layers 11 in picture element corresponding parts which have a direct influence upon liquid crystal display. Thus, the display element superior in contrast and electrooptic characteristic is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device that can improve contrast and electro-optical characteristics.

Conventional technology FIG. 3 shows the configuration of a conventional liquid crystal display element 1. As shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, a liquid crystal display element 1 generally includes a liquid crystal layer 2, substrates 4a, 4b on which transparent electrodes 3a, 3b, etc. are formed, and a polarizing plate (not shown). In the liquid crystal display element 1 of this scale, in order to keep the thickness dimension of the liquid crystal layer 2 constant, the pair of substrates 4a, 4b are uniformly spaced apart by a predetermined dimension. Also spacer 5 (glass fiber) on the inside part.

Glass microspheres, polymer resin microparticles, crystalline alumina particles, etc.) are dispersed and interposed between the pair of substrates 4a.

4b are facing each other.

On the other hand, in order to improve the contrast of the liquid crystal display, a shielding film 6 that constantly shields light is formed on the substrate 4a in areas other than the pixel corresponding portions (spaces between pixels). This shielding film 6
Apply black dye to the space between the pixels,
Alternatively, it has been formed by coating with a metal film that does not transmit light.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional liquid crystal display element 1 described above, the spacer 5 is also interposed in the pixel corresponding portion (indicated by the arrow in the figure), and therefore, the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal layer 2 and the spacer Due to the difference in optical properties such as the refractive index of the spacer 5, not only the display quality is degraded, but also a discontinuous molecular arrangement with many defects as boundaries is formed at the interface between the particles used as the spacer 5 and the liquid crystal. However, this has caused problems in that the contrast is reduced and the electro-optical characteristics are deteriorated.

Further, although the spacer 5 can prevent the thickness of the liquid crystal layer 2 from becoming smaller than a desired thickness,
When distortion and curvature occur in a and 4b, a portion of the liquid crystal layer 2 becomes thicker than the diameter of the spacer 5, which causes interference colors in the panel or inconvenience in setting the driving voltage. There was a problem in that the display quality was significantly degraded. On the other hand, the conventional formation of the shielding film 6 involves a troublesome formation process, which has the problem of complicating the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display element 1 and increasing the product price.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a liquid crystal display having a spacer that can form a reasonable panel gap that provides good contrast and electro-optical characteristics, and that can block light in the inter-pixel space. The purpose is to provide an element.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a pair of laminated layers of a liquid crystal layer, an electrode and an alignment film, respectively, which sandwich the liquid crystal layer with a predetermined gap, at least one of which is transparent. In a liquid crystal display element constituted by a substrate, a spacer for controlling the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is provided at a position corresponding to a space portion provided between the pair of substrates other than the pixel corresponding portion.

By configuring the working liquid crystal display element as described above, there is no spacer intervening in the pixel corresponding portion, and it is therefore possible to prevent alignment defects of liquid crystal in the pixel corresponding portion that directly affect the liquid crystal display.

Example Next, a first example of the liquid crystal display element according to the present invention will be described.
This will be explained with reference to the drawings and FIG. 1 is a plan view of the liquid crystal display element 8, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the liquid crystal display element 8, and FIG.
It is a cross-sectional view along the -■ line.

In each figure, 9a and 9b are transparent glass substrates with good smoothness, such as float glass, and transparent electrodes 10a are provided at predetermined positions on the opposing surfaces, respectively.

The electrode 10b is formed in a band shape extending in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 (the electrode 10a is shown by a broken line in FIG. 1). The transparent electrodes 10a, 10b are made of a metal oxide such as indium oxide, and are formed on the substrates 9a, 9 by thin film forming technology.
A film is formed on b in a predetermined pattern corresponding to the pixels. Note that the substrate 10a has the transparent electrodes 10a and 10b formed thereon.

The inner surface of 10b in contact with liquid crystal 11 is coated with a molecular alignment film (not shown) and subjected to rubbing treatment.

12 is a spacer which is an important part of the present invention. This spacer 12 is made of a thermoplastic resin mixed with a black pigment, and is arranged at a selected formation position in a space part (a part sandwiched between each transparent electrode 10a) provided at a position other than the pixel corresponding part. ing.

That is, the spacer 12 is formed in a band shape (as shown in FIG. 1) sandwiched between transparent electrodes 10a formed at positions corresponding to pixels. When forming this spacer 12,
First, a thermoplastic resin mixed with the above-mentioned black pigment is coated onto the substrate 4a on which the transparent electrode 3a is formed to a thickness equal to or slightly larger than the desired thickness of the liquid crystal layer. Then, patterning is performed leaving the transparent mold ti3a.

Subsequently, a substrate 4a on which the thermoplastic resin is patterned
Then, while the other substrate 4b forming a pair therewith is opposed with correct parallelism, pressure is applied and heated until the desired thickness of the liquid crystal layer is obtained. As a result, the thermoplastic resin adheres both substrates 4a, 4b with adhesive strength, and is subsequently cooled and solidified to form spacers 12 and to form substrates 4a, 4b.
b are fixed at a predetermined distance apart, and the liquid crystal cell 14 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is formed. Note that 13 in FIG. 1 is a sealing member for sealing the liquid crystal 11, and the liquid crystal 11 is injected into the liquid crystal cell 14 from a liquid crystal injection part shown by an arrow B. At this time, the liquid crystal 11 is easily filled into the gap in the liquid crystal cell 14 from the gap between the spacers 12, and the liquid crystal display element 8 is formed.

By forming the spacers 12 as described above, the spacers are not dispersed non-uniformly as in the conventional case. In addition, by applying adhesive force to the spacer 12, the opposing substrates 4a and 4b are brought into close contact with each other through the adhesive force, so that the distortion and curvature of the substrates 4a and 4b are pulled together, and the thickness of the liquid crystal layer becomes uniform. It is possible to form a reasonable panel gap that is maintained and does not cause interference colors or display unevenness.

As described above, the spacer 12 is disposed at a position in a space other than the pixel corresponding area, that is, at a position where the shielding film 6 is formed in the conventional liquid crystal display element 1 (shown in FIG. 3). Therefore, there is no possibility that there is anything other than the liquid crystal in the pixel area,
The contrast and electro-optical characteristics of a liquid crystal display can be improved.

Further, since the spacer 12 contains a black pigment, it has a light blocking function, and the spacer 12 can effectively block light at all times.

In the above embodiment, the spacers 12 are formed in a band-like pattern, but the pattern is not limited to this. For example, the spacers 12 may be formed in a grid pattern or intermittently at positions other than the pixel-corresponding positions.

Further, in the above embodiment, the spacer 12 is formed on the substrate 4a on which the transparent electrode 3a is formed in a stripe shape, but it may also be applied to a liquid crystal cell in which the active element is built into the substrate, where the transparent electrode is not in the stripe shape. It can be implemented.

Further, the present invention is not limited to forming the spacer 12 on one substrate 4a, and it is of course possible to form the spacer 12 on both substrates 4a and 4b before assembling the liquid crystal cell. .

Effects of the Invention As described above, in the liquid crystal display element according to the present invention, by providing a spacer for controlling the thickness of the liquid crystal layer at a position corresponding to the space portion provided other than the pixel corresponding portion between the pair of substrates,
It is possible to prevent alignment defects of the liquid crystal caused by the spacer in the pixel corresponding area, resulting in a display element with good contrast electro-optic characteristics.Also, by imparting adhesive strength to the spacer, the thickness of the liquid crystal layer can be made uniform. This makes it possible to effectively prevent interference colors from occurring, and the spacer also has the advantage of being able to be used to block light in the inter-pixel space.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of a liquid crystal display element according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line I[-II in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an example of a conventional liquid crystal display element. 8...Liquid crystal display element, 9a, 9b...Substrate, 10a
. 10b...Transparent electrode, 11...Liquid crystal, 12...Spacer, 14...Liquid crystal cell. Figure 1

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a liquid crystal display element composed of a liquid crystal layer and a pair of substrates, at least one of which is transparent, which sandwich the liquid crystal layer with a predetermined gap, each of which has an electrode and an alignment film laminated thereon, A liquid crystal display element characterized in that a spacer for controlling the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is provided at a position corresponding to a space part provided between the substrates other than the pixel corresponding part. (2) The liquid crystal according to claim 1, wherein the spacer is made of a material having adhesive strength and is bonded to each of the pair of substrates to fix the pair of substrates in a state where they are opposed to each other and spaced apart from each other. display element. (3) The liquid crystal display element according to claim 2, wherein the spacer is made of thermoplastic resin. (4) The liquid crystal display element according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the spacer is made of a material having a light blocking property.